The almighty NCAA met the other day and has announced that its Playing Rules Oversight Panel has approved a number of changes to the football rulebook for the upcoming season. Why ticker with a good thing you ask, well the goal of the recent rules changes deal with player safety.
Here a quick recap of the changes that you will see this upcoming season:
1. Kickoffs will move from the 30-yard line to the 35. This is likely to result in more touchbacks and fewer returns.
2. Players on the kick coverage units cannot line up more than five yards off the ball. This will prevent longer, running starts which should lessen the impact of collisions on the recturn team.
3. Touchbacks on free kicks — ie: kickoffs — will bring the ball out to the 25-yard line rather than to the 20.
4. If a player loses his helmet, it will be treated as an injury and the player must leave the field of play for one play. This rule does not apply if an opponent rips or “facemasks” a player’s helmet off.
5. Offensive players in the tackle box at the snap of the ball who are not in motion will be allowed to block below the waist legally and without restriction. However, all other players are restricted from blocking below the waist with only a few exceptions (such as straight-ahead blocks).
6. Players will be prohibited from jumping over blockers in an attempt to block a punt.
So what do you think?
Again the goal of all the changes outlined above is to provide more safe measures for the football player and lessen injuries. Most above are good. Only one, that will take some getting use to is the kickoff at the 35.
For us USC football fans, not a big deal as we have not had a kickoff return touchdown in years.
Now that this is fixed by the NCAA, can we do something about the BCS and playoffs?
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